Quick Fiddy

As summer comes to a close I am finally getting back to racing. Last summer I was really fit, raced a lot, and won quite a few small races. This summer by contrast I was pretty wiped out after two early spring marathons and haven't been as motivated to get out training. This has given me the chance to do a bit more adventuring, camping, and spending time with friends and family, which has been nice. My brilliant strategy to allow myself this freedom was to sign up for a 50 mile race in September so I wouldn't be tempted to sign up and train hard for a fall marathon. That race was the Superior 50, the little brother of the epic Sawtooth 100 race on the superior hiking trail. The tag line for the race is Rugged, Relentless, Remote, and it lives up to that.

Leading up to the race I was putting in moderate training weeks with big mileage on the weekend. I had a few weekends with 2-3 runs totally 30+ miles for the weekend. I kept the pace easy, knowing I would need to be efficient at a much slower speed than I'm used to running. I didn't race at all in July and only one little 10 miler in August. I got in a long weekend of hiking on the Pictured Rocks trails in Michigan and tried to spend a lot of time outside. When I first started racing long races like the Chippewa Triathlon I noticed that since I work indoors I was not used to being outside for large chunks of the day especially in the heat of the middle of the day, so I have focused on spending weekends outside as much as possible to not have that additional stress to adapt to on race day. This was a great excuse to get in a couple camping trips and some long bike rides.

The 50 mile race starts in Finland, MN at 5:30 on a Saturday morning. The 100 mile starts at 8:00 AM the day before, so I spent Friday evening cheering on my friends Rob and Eric. Rob ended up dropping out at mile 50, the very same place where I would be starting the next day. I was sad to see him drop, so when I started running the next day part of me felt like I was carrying on the torch for him.

Ready to Race!

The weather at the race start was absolutely spectacular. It was just under 40F, the sky was clear of clouds and awash with stars. Most of us runners stayed inside out of the cold until the race organizer herded us out to the start line. I wish I had a picture or video to match how amazing the race start was. The road ahead lit by the headlamps of all the runners around me, the almost complete darkness of the surrounding forest, and then the brilliant tableau of stars up above. The paved road quickly turned to gravel, and not long after that we dived into the darkness that is the superior national forest.

Runners getting ready to start.

The race climbed steadily for a couple miles, but it was when we turned downhill that I began to run into problems almost right away. Since I figured I would only be running in darkness for an hour at most I only packed a small light, and it was not enough to see the trail well. When I did more trail running and was a younger, more nimble fellow this may not have been a big concern, but my amount of technical trail running has not been that great this summer, so I was kind of in over my head. After passing a runner who suddenly pulled over to the side of the trail I considered that twisting an ankle was a serious concern. Sure enough, not even a quarter mile later I rolled my left ankle pretty good on the edge of a rock.

Course profile for the Superior Fall Races

I backed the pace off after this, because I couldn't really trust my weight on that foot for a while, but I still managed to roll the same ankle a couple more times before making it in to the first aid station 7.5 miles into the race. I made a quick stop to loosen up my shoe laces on my now swelling foot and was back underway. Throughout the day that was one thing I felt like I did very well, I came into aid stations with a plan and I moved through quickly and efficiently.

The sun finally edged above the horizon before the next aid station, and my friend Emily was there to take my headlight and long sleeve shirt. I kept my arm warmers and buff since I still couldn't really use my fingers because of the cold most of the time. I wasn't going to complain about that though, knowing that chilly fingers are far better than the heat of the race a couple years ago the first time Rob ran it. The next stretch was the Crosby-Manitou segment, one of the most beautiful sections, but also one of the most difficult, and the longest stretch of the race between aid stations. Last year I paced my friend Jeff through this section in the middle of the night, and it was far more enjoyable in the daylight I have to say. My energy was good for this section and I felt like I was moving very well.

I kept those good feelings through the next aid station and past the marathon start. One marathon down, one to go (the actual race length is 52.4 miles, so just about exactly 2 full marathons). I was at 5:15 at this point, so a bit off of my goal of sub 10 hours, but I was happy with how things were going. That changed quickly on the long downhill to the Cross River however.

The lead woman caught me on the flat stretch along the Cross River and I picked up my pace to stay with her. Going up and over the next climb I actually put a good gap on her again, but lost all that ground and more on the descent to the Temperance aid station. She was just leaving that aid station when I arrived. It was a lonely slog up to Carleton Peak. I ran almost all the way to the top though, so I was pretty proud of that. Just as I was nearing the peak Emily showed up. It was nice to finally drop off my arm warmers and buff with her and start picking my way downhill to the next aid station. From this point on I had raced all of the rest of the course as part of a 50k a couple years ago, so I had a good idea of what to expect. In some ways that was reassuring, but in other ways it was rather frustrating, since I knew how much more quickly I had covered this section of trail last time I raced here.

The last 15 miles were a slog. I kept running by sheer force of will, but unfortunately not running quickly by this point since my legs were pretty stiff. I got passed by two more women and one more guy in the 50 mile race, moving me back to 14th, the place where I would ultimately finish. I was very happy to finally hit the road near Caribou highlands and be able to push the pace on the more stable surface. My final time was 11:14.

I learned a lot this race, but also did a lot of things right. Food and drink were right on, and I paced things pretty well for much of the race. I was not prepared adequately for the terrain however, and had very little left in the legs for the runnable sections late in the race, so those are some training issues that will need to be addressed before I try another one of these races. I may be back someday, but probably not next year, where I'm already looking at the Inspiration 100 gravel race on this weekend.